Somali Pirate ‘Big Mouth’ Captured

Maybe he was trying to get an early ticket to go see Captain Phillips. Notorious Somali pirate Mohamed Abdi Hassan, known as “Afweyne” or “Big Mouth,” has been detained in Belgium, local news reported Monday. Hassan was detained Saturday in Brussels after arriving on a flight from Nairobi, Belga news agency reported. Despite having been named by the United Nations as “one of the most notorious and influential leaders” of Somalia’s pirates, Hassan had said earlier this year that he would be retiring after eight years—and he urged other pirates to do the same. But retirement or not, Hasan has been linked to the 2008 capture of the Saudi-owned Sirius Star oil tanker, and the 134-day hijack of the Ukrainian transport ship MV Faina in 2008.